Introduction to Group Dynamics PDF

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO GROUP DYNAMICS WHAT ARE GROUPS? **Defining groups** - 2 or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships - Groups tend to gravitate towards the smallest possible size, two - Doing the same task, in the same area, involved in h...

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO GROUP DYNAMICS WHAT ARE GROUPS? **Defining groups** - 2 or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships - Groups tend to gravitate towards the smallest possible size, two - Doing the same task, in the same area, involved in helping or competing - Categorization - Perceive themselves to be in a group - Communication - Three or more people who - Think of themselves as a group - Are interdependent - Communicate (interact) with one another - Influence - Influence each other - Interdependence - Interdependence instead of similarity - Interrelations - Two or more people who are to some degree in a dynamic interrelation with one another - Psychological significance - Psychologically aware of each other, perceive to be in a group - Relations - Common purpose, intentionality, a common interest - Shared identity - Shared tasks and goals - Size - Social unit - Structure - Definite status and role relationships - Systems - Intact social system complete with boundaries, interdependence for shared purpose, differentiated member roles **Varieties of groups** - Primary groups - Small intimate clusters - Profound influence on behaviour, feelings, judgements of members - Often involuntary - Make the individual a social being - Social (Secondary) Groups - Large and formally organized - Shorter duration of membership, less emotional involvement and commitment - Permeable - Collectives - People drawn together by an event, activity, danger but group dissolves when the experience ends - Bowling alone - More people bowl, but less do so in leagues - Due to decline of social capital (less connections) - Categories - Collective of individuals who are similar to one another in some way - Resident of countries, race, gender - Influence perception and use of stereotyping - Social identity - Part of an individual's self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the emotional significance attached to that membership **Characteristics of groups** - Composition: Who belongs to the group - The qualities of the individuals who are members of the group - Groups may be more than sum of parts but each part defines the whole - Boundaries: who does not belong? - May be distinct or indistinct - A group may be descret - Open groups: membership is fluid and open to outsiders - Closed groups: membership roster changes slowly if at all - More likely to focus on the collective nature of the group and identify with the group - Size: How Large Is the Group? - Determines number of social ties - N(n-1) (n = number of members in the group) - Many larger groups may have members who are not connected at all - Particularly when it passes 150 people, connections become indirect - Interaction: What Do Members Do? - task interaction - group behaviour that is primarily focused on group's work, projects, plans, and goals - relationship interaction - group interacts within their relationships - Size of the brain - Brain bigger to deal with group living - Brain is not designed to be in groups of larger than 150 people, limit yourself to avoid issues of processing capacity - Interdependence: Do the Members Depend on Each other? - Members depend on the outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are partially determined by others in the group - Symmetric Interdependence - Hierarchical Interdependence (without reciprocity) - Hierarchical interdependence with unequal reciprocity - Sequential interdependence without reciprocity - Structure: How is the Group Organized? - Organized and predictable patterns - Complex of roles, norms, and intermember relations that organizes the group - Roles: general behaviors expected of people who occupy different positions within the group - Actions and interactions are shaped by group's norms - Way to learn the most about a group - Goals: What is the Group's Purpose? - Majority of group's time is spent on goal-oriented activities and tasks (63%) - Generating: creating strategies to achieve goals (planning tasks) or create altogether new ideas and approaches to their problems (creativity tasks) - Choosing: groups make decisions about issues that have correct solutions (intellective tasks) or questions that can be answered in many ways (decision-making tasks) - Negotiating: groups resolve differences of opinion among members regarding their goals or decisions (cognitive conflict tasks) or settle competitive disputes among members (mixed-motive tasks) - Executing: groups do things, including taking part in competitions (contests/battles/competitive tasks) or creating some product or carrying out collective tasks (performances/psychomotor tasks) A diagram of a diagram AI-generated content may be incorrect. - Origin: Founded or Formed? - Planned groups - Deliberately formed by its members or an external authority for some purpose - Emergent groups - Come into existence spontaneously - Unity: How Cohesive is the group - integrity, solidarity, social integration, unity, and groupiness of a group - close-knit cohesive groups suffer little from turnover or intragroup conflict - group cohesiveness is often based on commitment to the group's purposes rather than social bonds of members - Entitativity: Does the Group Look Like a Group? - Extent to which a group looks like a single unified entity (a group) - Influenced by similarity, proximity, and common fate - Perceptual cues like pragnanz (good form) and permeability - What groups have been found to have the highest entativity? - Primary groups highest - Social groups second - Categories third - Collectives fourth WHAT ARE GROUP DYNAMICS **Dynamic group processes** - Forces that combine, sometimes smoothly, sometimes not - How members relate and engage with each other - Group's inherent nature and trajectory **Formative process** - how groups come to be - how groups get to know each other **Influence Processes** - structure - power - leadership **Performance Processes** - examines the processes that facilitate and inhibit people's performance in groups and concludes that groups outperform individuals when interpersonal processes boost member's motivation - teams -- groups who are highly interdependent, task-focused, and productive **Conflict Processes** - the actions or beliefs of one or more members are the group are unacceptable to and resisted by one or more of the other members - undermines group cohesiveness, weakens or breaks relationships - caused by competition, disagreements over distribution of resources, power struggles, uncertainty, disagreement over a decision, personal antipathies **Contextual Processes** - social and environmental context that the group is found in **Process and progress over time** - foundations - formation and development - normative influences and interaction - working in groups - conflict - contexts and applications WHY STUDY GROUPS? - Dynamic as a word to describe groups - Groups are powerful, active, fluid - The study of groups - Field of inquiry dedicated to advancing knowledge about the nature of groups, the laws of their developments, and their interrelations with individuals, other groups, and larger institutions **Understanding people** - Fundamental attribution error - Perceivers are more likely to attribute a person's actions to personal, individual qualities rather than external, situational forces (like groups) - Individuals can change their behaviour wildly in different group settings - Children learn who they are from their family or classmates - Adults are impacted by a wide-ranging group of individuals - Peer pressure makes us act differently - Hofstede -- key dimensions that underlie variations in cultural outlooks - Power distance index - Levels of inequality - Individualism - group-centered or individualistic - Masculinity - How much is masculinity and its associated elements manifested into the culture's practices - Uncertainty avoidance index - How much do a culture's practice minimize uncertainty and ambiguity **Understanding the social world** - Groups are the interpersonal microstructures that link individuals to society - The group, a level between self and society, should properly have a central place in sociological theorizing: it creates allegiance, members know each other, come to create a culture and shared history, and can use the group as a basis of connection to the larger society **Application to practical problems** - Help people find motivation to change thoughts and behaviours - Maximize profits, successfully complete missions - Connected to many other fields like sociology, business, computer science, and criminal justice THE VALUE OF GROUPS - Some of the worst decisions ever made in history were made by groups - Groups may fail to properly use the expertise of its members - May reassure us, may improve our outcomes